. [Collected reprints, 1895-1916. Birds. Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer. 9 device. It is said that clifE and barn swallows may be induced to build their nests in a particular locality, otherwise suitable, by providing a quantity of mud to be used by them as mortar. Barn swallows may also be encouraged by cutting a small hole in the gable of the barn, while martins and white-bellied swallows will be grateful for boxes like those for the bluebird, but placed in a higher situation. TOWHEE. The towhee, chewink, or ground robin" (fig. 8), as it is variously Itnown, _ inhabits nearly th
. [Collected reprints, 1895-1916. Birds. Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer. 9 device. It is said that clifE and barn swallows may be induced to build their nests in a particular locality, otherwise suitable, by providing a quantity of mud to be used by them as mortar. Barn swallows may also be encouraged by cutting a small hole in the gable of the barn, while martins and white-bellied swallows will be grateful for boxes like those for the bluebird, but placed in a higher situation. TOWHEE. The towhee, chewink, or ground robin" (fig. 8), as it is variously Itnown, _ inhabits nearly the whole of the United States east of the Great Plains. It ' breeds from the Middle States northward and winters in the southern half of the country. Naturally associated with the catbird and brown thrasher, it lives in much the same places, though it is more given to haunting hedgerows along roads and fences. After snow has disappeared in early spring an investi- gation of the rustling so often heard among the leaves near a fence or in a Jhlcket will fre- quently disclose a towhee hard at work scratching for his dinner after the manner of a hen; and in these places and along the sunny border of woods old leaves wiU be found overturned where the bird has been searching for hibernating beetles and larvae. The good which the towhee does in this way can hardly be overestimated, since the death of a single Insect at this time, before it has had an opportu- j,jj, g Towhee. Length, about 8 inches. nity to deposit Its «ggs, is equiva- lent to the destruction of a host . , . later in the year. The towhee has also been credited with visiting potato fields and feeding upon the potato beeUe. Its vegetable food consists of seeds and smaU vnld fruits, but no complaint on this score is known to have been made. So for as observation goes, the bird never touches either cultivated fruit or grain; in fact, it is too shy and retiring even to stay about gardens for any length of time. THE SPARROWS
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